Hi Guys,

 

I have a EA82 motor in my Trike that I just found out has cracked heads and I need to either find other heads or find a complete motor or car and swap out the heads or motor. My question is this:

 

My motor is a carbed 1985 EA82. Are the heads the same on the EA82 that have fuel injection on them, 86/87 and maybe 1988 modles?

 

Also does anyone out there have a couple heads for the EA82 that you would part with?

 

Thanks, Bob

Hey Bob,

 

Any heads from a carb ea82 motor will fit it. You could use the spfi ea82 heads, but it may cause problems with the egr. I can't recall for sure.

How bad are the cracks? They are only trash if the crack reaches into the exhaust port, thats where the water jacket is. They will work ok with small cracks between the valves.

i doubt you need new heads. cracks between the valve seats? those are common and don't mean the heads are ruined at all. it's superficial and doesn't cause any problems. they can be used that way just fine. they can also be repaired. i have them all repaired because it doesn't cost much. i think every EA82, EA82T, and ER27 i've ever pulled has cracks between the valve seats, very common. most on the road today probably have cracks.

just adding my voice to the din of people saying "between the valve cracks are OK if you cant get your fingernail into them" Clean out the exhaust ports and make sure there are no cracks there.

 

Anyone have a link to the technical bulletin that SOA put out saying these cracks are "Fine?"

SPFI heads from any year will work. Anything but MPFI heads(like from a turbo or an XT)

 

If the cracks are between the valves, they are fine. It's the ones in the exhaust ports you have to worry about.

Hey Bob,

 

Any heads from a carb ea82 motor will fit it. You could use the spfi ea82 heads, but it may cause problems with the egr. I can't recall for sure.

 

Not a problem with egr as everything related to smog is gone. I just have a line on a couple cars that I believe will be fuel injected, but are $500 or less to buy and I wasn't sure if the heads would be the same or not.

 

Thanks, looks like they will work

 

Bob

i doubt you need new heads. cracks between the valve seats? those are common and don't mean the heads are ruined at all. it's superficial and doesn't cause any problems. they can be used that way just fine. they can also be repaired. i have them all repaired because it doesn't cost much. i think every EA82, EA82T, and ER27 i've ever pulled has cracks between the valve seats, very common. most on the road today probably have cracks.

 

The heads were taken to a shop and they were able to see the cracks without doing a pressure test. The motor does run very well with only 150,000 miles on it, but the reason I pulled the heads was due to leaking a fair amount of collant into the exhaust and into tail pipe. If the Trike sits for 4 or 5 days, I'll lose a point of coolant out the exhaust. I must assume that the heads also must have cracks up inside into the exhaust ports. Both sides leak.

 

Bob

SPFI heads from any year will work. Anything but MPFI heads(like from a turbo or an XT)

 

If the cracks are between the valves, they are fine. It's the ones in the exhaust ports you have to worry about.

 

Yep I got both cracks between the valves and exhaust ports.

 

Bob

they were able to see the cracks without doing a pressure test.

that's how they all are, just because you can see them doesn't mean anything. most EA and ER series heads have these cracks and they are all very visible, they look horrible. did they confirm the cracks were causing the leaks?

 

cracks between the valves and up in the exhaust ports? wow, this thing gets seriously worked doesn't it!

Are you sure that the intake was not leaking where it attaches to the heads? It's not very common for non-turbos to have the exhaust cracks. but anything is possible. Just because a *shop* says they are bad, don't nessecarily believe them. Many shops are unfamiliar with these engines.

 

You could try SSK (subaru, suzuki, Kia) in rancho cordova. They have tons of subies and are pretty fair. At least Tony there was.

I've NEVER seen an EA82 non-turbo head where the cracks caused coolant leakage. I've also NEVER seen a head without the cracks.

 

Subaru issued a service bulletin in the 80's to ignore the cracks between the valves. They are normal to this engine and you won't find a set without them anyway. Likely your leaks are a result of bad intake gaskets. Have the idiots at the shop do an actual pressure test.

 

GD

I've NEVER seen an EA82 non-turbo head where the cracks caused coolant leakage. I've also NEVER seen a head without the cracks.

 

Subaru issued a service bulletin in the 80's to ignore the cracks between the valves. They are normal to this engine and you won't find a set without them anyway. Likely your leaks are a result of bad intake gaskets. Have the idiots at the shop do an actual pressure test.

 

GD

 

Hi General, when you say the leaks are probably from bad intake gaskets. I'm assuming you are refering to the intake manafold, is that right? I did remove the manafold when I first got the motor stripped of the smog stuff to install in the Trike. I did not replace the gaskets at that time. If that is what your refering too, that just might be the cause. I'm sure that must be what you are saying as there isn't any other place where the coolant could get into the exhaust ports. I sure hope your right. I have a complete gasket kit on hand so it probably will have those gaskets in it. Thanks, for the info, I think you are probably right.

 

Bob

is it a subaru gasket set?? Subaru OEM brand intake manifold gaskets are the only ones you can rely on. It is one of those parts you simply cannot trust even the best aftermarket manufacturer with.

 

BTW, yes, that was what he was talking about.. the gaskets between the intake manifold and the cylinder heads.

the gaskets at napa are pretty good. make sure you get the victor graphite faced gaskets and not the fel-pro

 

the head gasket sets and engine sets are all the same fro 85-95 and has all the gaskets for carb, spfi, and mpfi.

the gaskets at napa are pretty good. make sure you get the victor graphite faced gaskets and not the fel-pro

 

the head gasket sets and engine sets are all the same fro 85-95 and has all the gaskets for carb, spfi, and mpfi.

 

 

Yes the gasket set I have is Subaru stuff, all good quality sets. They better be good, cost me $110 for the head set and I'm pretty sure the set came with intake gaskets too.

 

I'm going to put the motor back together in the next few days and just be careful to clean the surfaces real good where ever a gaskets goes and give this little motor another chance. It runs so well that even if it continues to leak a little, I'm going to use it. We did a 1500 mile ride up into Oregon with it a couple weeks ago, and it just runs like a top and never misses a beat.

 

Bob

Yes the gasket set I have is Subaru stuff, all good quality sets. They better be good, cost me $110 for the head set and I'm pretty sure the set came with intake gaskets too.

 

I'm going to put the motor back together in the next few days and just be careful to clean the surfaces real good where ever a gaskets goes and give this little motor another chance. It runs so well that even if it continues to leak a little, I'm going to use it. We did a 1500 mile ride up into Oregon with it a couple weeks ago, and it just runs like a top and never misses a beat.

 

Bob

 

Bob, I'm glad that manifold is working good for ya. Still got the same carb on it?

 

Anyway, I'm gonna bet that if you didn't replace those intake gasket that is where you're leak is. Like GD said, I've also never seen any non turbo heads crack in the exhaust port.

 

Perhaps the shop you took it to was not understanding that the *BTV* cracks are not what we mean. Technically those cracks are in both the intake and exhaust port. But there is only a wall of solid metal between the valves at that area. The worst it causes is a slight amount of vacuum leakage from intake to exhaust or vice versa. There is a service bulletin that they are fine and everyone ignores them.

 

Here is a picture of where the bad cracks happen. The real *exhaust port* cracks. You have to look into the exhaust port on the bottom of the head, where the exhaust pipe bolts on. Look for cracks at either end of the *wall* that seperates the 2 halfs of the chamber. If there are cracks they are ussually right at the point where that wall meets the edge of the port.

I've NEVER seen an EA82 non-turbo head where the cracks caused coolant leakage. I've also NEVER seen a head without the cracks.

 

GD

 

You should have seen the 88 GL I started out with, then- Thought it was just a blown head gasket, pressure test sent bubbles everywhere. The heads were cracked stem-to-stem. Major overheat.

i have seen the cracks between the valves go down to the valve guide itself and still be good.

 

bob you can use the spray copper permatex gasket seal if you like, if you have problems with supposed cracked head after assembly try the liquid glass type block sealer

The gaskets MUST be replaced when you remove the intake or leaks will result sooner or later. Wire wheel the mating surfaces back to clean metal, and use OEM gaskets ONLY. Aftermarket are inferior in the extreem. Torque the bolts to 12 ft/lbs and coat them in anti-seize. Chase the threads in the the heads and wire wheel the bolts too.

 

Use Fel-Pro permatorque head gaskets, and torque the head bolts to 55 ft/lbs instead of the factory 47.

 

GD